1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless communication carriers. More particularly, it relates to location-based services for the wireless industry.
2. Background of Related Art
Location information regarding subscribers is increasingly becoming available in a wireless network. This is particularly true in systems that comply with E-9-1-1 requirements. Location information relates to absolute coordinates of a wireless device.
Both Location and Presence services are message intensive on telecom networks. Message reduction in general is desirable, both to allow increased capacity in a wireless network, as well as to improve reliability of the system by reducing the number of messages.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional LoCation Services (LCS) request.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, a location server 106 requests location information regarding a particular mobile subscriber (MS) from a core network node, e.g., from a Mobile Switch Center (MSC) 110. Requested information regarding a particular wireless device (MS) may include, e.g., attach, detach, and location area update. The location server 106 may also request information regarding the wireless device such as attach, detach and/or location area update from a Packet Date Node (e.g., SGSN, GGSN, or PDSN), or help the device calculate x/y direction.
Typically, location information regarding a particular wireless device is requested of a home location register (HLR).
As shown in step 1 of FIG. 4, a locations services client sends a message to a location server.
In step 2, a location server 106 sends a Provide Subscriber Info message to a Home Location Register 108, requesting subscriber information regarding a particular subscriber.
In step 3, the carrier's Home Location Register (HLR) 108 provides the subscriber information for the requested subscriber back to the location server 106.
In step 4, location information regarding the requested subscriber is requested to either an MSC or Packet Data node 110. The MSC or Packet Data Node preferably provides precise location information using, e.g., a global positioning satellite (GPS), triangulation techniques, or other relevant locating technology, or helps the device calculate X/Y direction.
In step 5, the location request is forwarded to the Radio Access Network (RAN) 112 if needed.
In step 6, precise, updated location information regarding the requested subscriber is sent to the location server (LS) 106.
In step 7, an ultimate response to the original location request is sent to the LCS client 104 that initially requested the location information.
Others have proposed watching or monitoring locations of subscribers in a wireless network by “polling”. The conventional polling technique utilizes a system within the wireless network to request updated location information relating to all provisioned subscribers. The polling is performed periodically, e.g., every N minutes.
However, polling is disadvantageous in that it is very resource intensive making it a costly solution for the business use cases it supports.